Beacon Hill Roll Call
Volume 51 – Report No. 36
August 31 – September 4, 2026
Copyright © 2026 Beacon Hill Roll Call. All Rights Reserved.
THE HOUSE AND SENATE: There were no roll calls in the House or Senate last week. This week, Beacon Hill Roll Call reports on the percentage of times local senators voted with their party’s leadership in the 2026 session through Sept. 4.
During the week of August 31-Sept. 4, the House met for a total of 20 minutes and the Senate met for a total of 16 minutes.
Beacon Hill Roll Call uses 96 of the 122 votes from the 2026 Senate session as the basis for this report. This includes all roll calls except 26 that were on local issues.
The votes of 33 Democrats were compared to Senate Majority Leader Cynthia Creem (D-Newton), second-in-command in the Senate. We could not compare the Democrats’ votes to those of Senate President Karen Spilka (D-Ashland) because, by tradition, the Senate president rarely votes.
Beacon Hill Roll Call also contacted all 12 senators who voted with Creem 100 percent of the time and asked them to comment. None of the 12 responded.
They are Sens. Mike Barrett (D-Lexington); Will Brownsberger (D-Belmont); Jo Comerford (D-Northampton); Jamie Eldridge (D-Marlborough); Dylan Fernandes (D-Falmouth); Cindy Friedman (D-Arlington); Adam Gomez (D-Springfield); Vanna Howard (D-Lowell); Robyn Kennedy (D-Worcester); Jason Lewis (D-Winchester); Paval Payano (D-Lawrence) and Becca Rausch (D-Needham).
The votes of four Republican senators were compared with those of GOP Senate Minority Leader Sen. Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester). None of the four voted with Tarr 100 percent of the time. Sens. Patrick O’Connor (R-Weymouth) and Peter Durant (R-Spencer) voted with Tarr the least percentage of times – only 93.7 percent.
Sens. Kelly Dooner (R-Taunton) and Ryan Fattman (R-Sutton) were close behind and voted with Tarr only 94.7 percent of the time.
PERCENTAGE OF TIMES LOCAL SENATORS VOTED WITH THEIR LEADERSHIP in 2026 THROUGH SEPT. 4 – The percentage next to the senator’s name represents the percentage of times the senator supported his or her party’s leadership in 2026 through September 4. The number in parentheses represents the number of times the senator opposed his or her party’s leadership.
Some senators voted on all 99 roll call votes. Others missed one or more roll calls. The percentage for each senator is calculated based on the number of roll calls on which he or she voted.
Sen. Jason Lewis – 100 percent (0)
For more information and details on each bill, roll call attendance, and other relevant information, please visit the Wakefield Daily Item at www.localheadlinenews.com.